


Beyond The Suffocating Walls

by unoriginalcanoe



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst with a Happy Ending, Dadza, Gen, HOMIEsexual, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, Magic, My First AO3 Post, My First Work in This Fandom, Religious Content, Slow Build, Will add more character tags when they appear, Yeah that's right, background karlnap because yeah, based on minecraft, george is a moron, george is a prince, inspired by basically every single fantasy book ever, no beta we die like wilbur, phil's ancestors worship birds, platonic, teen cause tommy and quackity swear a LOT, teen cause tommy swears a lot, the king sucks, time traveler karl
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-12 16:41:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28763487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unoriginalcanoe/pseuds/unoriginalcanoe
Summary: Prince George IV has spent his entire life inside the walls of the Eos Kingdom, unknowing of the ancient legend of "Sol", the only sword that can defeat the looming threat of the Shadow-Walkers, evil creatures sent from the pits of the underground set to destroy everything in their path. When the Sleepy Kingdom asks for his help to retrieve Sol, it becomes impossible to say no. Taking Dream, a proud but mysterious knight, with him, Prince George learns that there's a lot more to the world than what he's read in books.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Karl Jacobs & Sapnap, Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 34





	1. Three Stupid Knights Don't Recognize George

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! I'm awfully nervous posting this work, as I've never published any works on this platform. My writing is also incredibly rushed and sort of repetitive, so my apologies at my scuffed writing skills, I'm essentially using this work to practice my writing and hopefully get better with time. I hope you guys enjoy this work, which was HEAVILY inspired by "Protected" by Aenqa!

George was used to being a prince. Prince George IV, to be specific. Burying himself arms-deep in the history of the Eos Kingdom, memorizing correct mannerisms of different cultures, painting himself as the perfect picture of pristine royalty. It was an honor to be part of royalty, in one of the biggest kingdoms, no less. Still, sometimes George couldn’t help but envy all of the knights. They were strong, training in battle at every opportunity, some of them even knowing a little bit of magic as well. 

Sure, they stood stock-still in front of the gates sometimes, but George saw the way they all high-fived each other whenever they passed by, or how they could chat casually amongst each other for hours as they performed their jobs effortlessly. So, one day, George finally summed up the courage to go visit the Knights’ Quarters, a building with a dining hall and barracks for all of the protectors of the kingdom. 

Normally George would spend his free time in the libraries or talking to Bad, a main diplomat of the kingdom who was often discussing peace treaties with other kingdoms, but he figured now was a good enough time for change. George silently slipped into the dining hall, which was louder and noisier than any extravagant ball he had ever been to. 

A bard played beautiful tunes on the guitar in the center of the room, near the fire pit, and all of the knights yelled and whooped and talked excitedly while a few servants gave them food and drink with smiles. Their relationships with the servants looked different, too—the knights talked to the servants as though they were equals, and the servants seemed just as casual in return, cackling and joking about. 

The atmosphere filled George with a strange sense of envy, and he almost jumped out of his skin when a strong hand clapped him on the shoulder. “Hello there! Are you a new servant?” George turned around to meet the gaze of dark brown eyes glowing with embers, a goofy grin on his face. 

What was George supposed to reply with? He couldn’t tell him he was the Prince; they would send him back to the castle, but he didn’t want to lie to this handsome stranger, either. This man was only about an inch taller than George, but he was much broader and bulkier, black hair pushed by a white ribbon tied around his forehead and a little bit of stubble on his chin. 

Luckily, George didn’t have to respond—the knight took George’s arm and led him to a small table, where two other knights sat casually. One of them was tall and blonde, also with a bit of facial hair and blue eyes, but he wasn’t the one who caught George’s attention. The other one wore a white mask with a crudely drawn smiley face on it, although it was pushed up a little bit for him to drink, a small smile on his face—George could make out a couple freckles, too. 

“This is a new servant! I’m Sapnap, by the way, mask guy is Dream, and that’s Punz!” the white ribbon knight exclaimed, and then dragged a stool over to the table for George to sit, and he did so with caution. 

“I’m, um… my name’s… ah…” George frowned for a moment. Should he risk it? George wasn’t exactly the rarest name on the planet, so maybe he could get away with it. “George. I’ve never seen the inside of the Knight’s Hall before, and I really like it.”

Dream grinned wickedly after taking a sip of mead, offering it to George, who took it and took a small sip politely. It wasn’t as good as the stuff in the castle, but George kind of liked the slightly bitter aftertaste. “Pleasure to meet you, George.” He said, and Punz passed George a chunk of bread that was overall pretty tasty. “Sorry you missed dinner—would’ve shared with you, we always do with the servants… I don’t like the thought of them having scraps when they work just as hard as us.”

“That’s very kind of you,” George noted, chewing on the bread thoughtfully. The servants ate scraps? Sure, George knew they didn’t eat as well as he did, but he just thought they ate their own meals. Scraps and leftovers? Looks like George didn’t know as much as he thought he did. 

George refrained from speaking any more when a boy who looked quite a few years younger than him approached the table, practically bouncing on the balls of feet. “Exciting news, gentlemen!” he exclaimed, his voice gleeful and cheery, pale eyes glimmering with a child-like glee. “The Sleepy Kingdom is visiting next week to discuss matters of the Shadow-Walkers. I know how much you guys like them when they visit, so I figured I’d—”

The boy quickly cut himself off when he made eye contact with George, his eyes widening comically. Great, he was figured out. “Oh, Your Highness! I didn’t—I didn’t recognize you, my apologies. What brings you here tonight?” George bit his lip nervously as the boy swept into a bow, his hair falling into his eyes a little bit.

“Your Highness?” Dream asked, and all three knights swiveled their heads to stare at George. It was almost comical, the way the fire flickered in all of their brains as they realized who George was. “Sapnap, what the hell?! You didn’t tell us… I didn’t recognize… Prince George?!”

Sapnap raised his hands in surrender quickly. “I didn’t know that was him, either! I’ve never seen him without the fancy robe and clothes… Your Highness, please forgive me, I didn’t know it was you, or I would’ve…”

They all went quiet, and George could feel his face heating up. “Don’t worry about it, it’s fine, I promise, I just wanted to come visit. This is, um, probably the most fun I’ve ever had since I was a kid—please don’t make me go back to the castle, just let me stay for a little bit longer. I won’t impose, I swear, I just… want to know what it’s like to be a person.” George swallowed when he finished, hoping, praying, practically begging these knights with his eyes to not take him back as the laughter and singing went on in the background. 

All three of the knights exchanged passing glances, as if having an argument with their eyes, even though George couldn’t even see Dream’s. “Alright, you can stay with us,” Punz said, tapping his fingers on the wooden table nervously, “but we’re going to bring you back to the castle in about an hour or two.”  
“Tell me, Prince George,” Dream said, a wicked grin starting to form on his face, “have you ever sung sea shanties with a guild?”


	2. An Offer He Can't Refuse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Sleepy Kingdom visit from the West Coast for brunch, George's father is a dick, and there just might be a solution to the looming threat of the Shadow-Walkers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is a little bit longer, thankfully! we're finally getting into the swing of things, and I hope nobody's character is TOO ooc! <3 thank you for thirty hits already!

George woke up the next morning without a headache—thankfully he hadn’t had much to drink, and he was feeling better than he had in months, which was surprising since Dream didn’t take him home until very late that night. It was almost picture-perfect—singing folk tunes at the top of his lungs with Dream, Sapnap and Punz, all of them very off-key, learning that the young servant boy was named Tubbo, who was an absolute delight, and was pen-pals with an adopted prince from the Sleepy Kingdom. 

The door to George’s bedroom swung open to the tune of a lifelong friend humming cheerfully, swinging open the curtains as the sunrays stabbed George in the eyes. “Bad, you’re back?” George asked, bleary-eyed but still excited to see one of his only friends. 

Bad, an excellent diplomat with an uncanny persuasiveness, smiled kindly at George from the doorway, walking over to George’s wardrobe to rifle through his clothes. “The Schlatt Kingdom was very… on edge, compared to usual,” Bad remarked, pulling out nice white shirt and black slacks for George. 

George frowned and walked into the bathroom, still incredibly sleepy. He sank into the bathtub filled with steaming water and floral scents while Bad turned his back to him. “They agreed with the horse-trading a little too quickly—normally King Schlatt and his goons would spend days trying to make an agreement tipped in their favor, and their mannerisms made it look like they were trying to hide something.”

“What would they have to hide?” George asked, washing his hair thoroughly and wrapping a towel around his torso, using another towel to dry his hair as best he could. 

Bad shrugged and messed with the clip on his cloak, something he always did when he was nervous. George changed clothes and frowned at how nice they were—was something important happening today? Bad cracked a smile at George’s confused expression. “Did you forget, George? The Sleepy Kingdom is coming for brunch in an hour. You know, the ‘nutbag kingdom’.” Bad winced at the unfortunate nickname that the neighboring kingdom had. 

“You know I hate that nickname,” George muttered quietly, “just because they don’t follow tradition doesn’t make them heathens. If anything, I’m jealous of them—I hear they go to markets and learn sword-fighting and travel the world!”

Bad sighed and pushed up his glasses, setting George’s stupid navy robe on his shoulders and the dumb crown on top of his head. “They arrived early, so everyone’s waiting on you for brunch. Don’t worry, though, your father is in a good mood.” He offered an arm to George, who took it reluctantly, and the two of them walked out into the hallways of the castle. 

Skeppy, Bad’s personal knight, stood outside the doors and brightened up the second he saw Bad and George. “George, it’s been forever!” he exclaimed, and George couldn’t help but smile. Bad got a lot of backlash when he chose Skeppy, a mischievous and troublemaker knight, as his personal assistant, but the two of them seemed to stick together like glue, even though they argued a lot. 

“I missed you, Skeppy,” George greeted his friend kindly, and then gasped in surprise when he saw that Skeppy’s dark hair was different. “Oh, your hair! Part of it’s blue!”

Skeppy grinned as the three of them descended down a few flights of stairs. “Had an incident with glowing mushrooms exploding on me, but I decided I liked the way they looked in my hair.” George smiled as Bad started to bicker with Skeppy about the dangers of that mission, and before he knew it, they were standing outside of the dining hall doors. 

George startled when he recognized Punz as one of the guards standing outside the doors, and then smiled up at the tall blonde. “Punz! I didn’t know you would be stationed here today!” George noted happily, and Punz’s gaze flickered nervously to Skeppy, who gave him a casual thumbs-up. 

Instantly Punz relaxed and gave George a huge smirk. “The King wanted extra guards here today, since the Sleepy Kingdom only brought two knights—that’s one of them to my right, hi Sneeg! Anyways, I’ve always preferred guarding the inside rather than the gates… fewer annoying people approaching every few seconds.” The other guard, Sneeg, waved to George, who simply smiled back. 

George and Punz exchanged pleasant goodbyes before Bad opened the doors to show George’s father, the King, and the royals of the Sleepy Kingdom all eating a lovely brunch. It had been almost five years since George had seen the Sleepy family, and… they seemed to have adopted another prince?

George recognized King Philza, a blonde man with slight facial hair and a tired smile, almost immediately. King Philza was known for being one of the most merciful and fair kings out of them all, ruling over his kingdom with a large smile. Instead of having children like everyone else, Philza decided to adopt a pair of twins from the literal streets, shocking every single other royal family. 

Prince Wilbur was one of the twins, a well-known heartbreaker and musician. He always had his guitar with him, and he could charm anyone with his sweet smile and even sweeter lyrics—he also seemed to have grown at least an entire foot since the last time George saw him as teenagers. All-in-all, Prince Wilbur was borderline perfect, somehow even better at being royal than George was. 

Prince Technoblade was the other twin, and he was much more reserved and mysterious than Wilbur, and he had changed a lot since George last saw him. His hair was long, almost to his lower back, and tied back into a ponytail—it was also a bubblegum pink color, which George found strange for someone who was known to be one of the best fighters in the whole world. Two tusks just barely protruded from his bottom lip, and dark red eyes just barely flicked over George. 

The third prince must have been adopted within the last five years, as George had never seen him before. He looked young, probably a teenager, and incredibly scrawny. A mop of blonde sat atop his head, and his eyes were the brightest blue George had ever seen, filled to the brim with pure chaos. 

Prince Wilbur was the first to see George, and he immediately jumped out of his chair, rushed over to George and gave him a huge hug, sweeping him from his feet and spinning him in a circle. George let out a choked noise and made eye contact with Dream, who was guarding the inside of the dining hall. He looked like he was struggling not to laugh, and George just glared at the handsome knight. 

“George, it’s been much too long since we’ve spoke last!” Wilbur gushed, and ruffled the top of George’s head, tilting his crown a little bit. King Philza never made his kids wear crowns… “How are you doing, my dear friend? You’re still as wonderfully handsome as ever, by the way!”

George smiled and brushed his pants as soon as Wilbur let go of him. “I’m quite alright, still as sheltered as al…” he cut himself off when his father shot a withering warning look, wincing just the smallest bit. “I noticed you seem to have a new brother.”

“’Ello, George!” the blonde-haired prince exclaimed from his seat as George sat down next to Wilbur at the table. “My name’s Tommy—Dad caught me stealing from the royal kitchens about four years back, and now I’m a prince!”

George didn’t miss his father’s disgusted look at Tommy, but he simply nodded at the boy. He seemed like a good kid. George didn’t talk much during brunch, just like any other meal with royals. The King didn’t want George to screw up somehow by saying something wrong or stupid, so he just chose to keep his son quiet and looking good—that was something George was confident at doing. 

Philza and King George III made polite conversation about family, until King Philza cleared his throat. “Your Majesty, as lovely as this conversation is, I’m afraid we need to discuss the matters of the Shadow-Walkers. Your kingdom and Schlatt’s are the only ones that haven’t had many attacks yet, and that’s only because you’re in the mainlands. Our troops are having a hard time keeping them back—it’s like when you kill one, two more show up again later. The black vines have started infesting the outskirts of our eastern towns, and we can only do so much to keep them back.”

“And what does that have to do with my kingdom?” George’s father asked coldly, raising an eyebrow cruelly. George watched Wilbur’s eyes widen comically, and saw Technoblade clench his fork a little tighter than he was before. Tommy was almost red-faced in anger, Technoblade whispering a few things into the boy’s ear that seemed to just barely stop him from tackling King George III. 

Luckily, Philza didn’t miss a beat, he simply smiled wider at George’s father, seemingly the only person unaffected by his cold and cruel demeanor. If it weren’t for the slight twitch of his enormous black wings, George would’ve thought it didn’t bother him. “Prince George, would you be kind enough to show my sons your beautiful courtyard? Your father and I have some matters to discuss…”  
George swallowed and nodded, standing up quickly and gesturing for Phil’s sons to follow him. Dream followed behind silently, like a protective statue, almost. “Yes, Your Majesty.” he murmured quietly, refusing to make eye contact with the Sleepy King.

There was a long stretch of silence as the group walked out of the dining hall and through the corridors. Finally, once out of direct earshot from the kings, Tommy practically exploded in rage. “What the hell is wrong with that evil bastard?!” he shouted, his fists clenched tightly. 

Technoblade smacked Tommy on the back of the head, who groaned in annoyance. “Don’t talk about our host like that when his son is literally right next to you!” he scolded his younger brother, his voice as monotone and disinterested as ever. 

“I’m not wrong, though, am I?” Tommy asked, making direct eye contact with George, who shrank a little bit under his scrutinizing gaze. “That man is horrible! I didn’t even get to explain the treasure map to Sol I found before he went all asshole mode!”

George frowned as they walked out into the measly Eos Kingdom courtyard. Sure, the flowers were pretty, but everything was too organized, the rows of various colored flowers perfected to exact squares, the fountain pristine and perfect, and the benches squeaky clean. “Isn’t Sol an ancient myth? Swords that powerful don’t exist.” He mused softly as he sat on a bench next to Wilbur. Technoblade chose to lean on the trunk of a tree right next to them, while Tommy simply sat on the lip of the fountain. 

“If Shadow-Walkers can be real, why can’t Sol?” Wilbur asked, and George tipped his head in acknowledgement. Wilbur had a point—he always did. Why did George even bother arguing with people? He was almost always incorrect when he spoke, especially when in front of his father. 

Technoblade took out his ponytail and tilted his head at George curiously. “Shouldn’t you be excited at the prospect of Sol? Your family are the only ones worthy to wield it, supposedly. Your dad is too much of a prick to use it, probably… you do realize you’re the only hope to defeat the Shadow-Walkers, right?”

George’s mouth instantly dried up. Sol was a myth, it didn’t exist. That’s what his father told him after George read a book about the magical sword that held the light of a thousand suns hidden deep within a cave in a dense forest. “My father told me that Sol wasn’t real,” he admitted bitterly, “I’m no hero. I only know basic sword-fighting, I’m not very strong, and I’ve never even been outside of town.”

“That’s the most depressing shit I’ve ever heard,” Tommy said, rolling his eyes. “You’d think for the only kingdom without either magic or hybrids, your family wouldn’t be such pricks.”  
George bit the inside of his cheek and looked at the ground. Tommy was right—there was no magic in George’s family, no wings, no sixth senses, none of that. “Don’t listen to Tommy,” Wilbur comforted George calmly, “I’m not magic either, he’s just a show-off because he finally got some sort of magical abilities about two years ago.”

As if on cue, Tommy opened his hands, and about a dozen bolts of white, yellow and purple lightning bounced around his fingertips, crackling with pure power. George’s jaw dropped in shock—magic truly was something beautiful. “You don’t need magic to be a hero, George,” Wilbur continued, unphased by Tommy, “but we’d like you to come with us to the Sleepy Kingdom for a few days, and then set off to find Sol. We can provide you with as many resources as possible to go, we just… we want to give this a try. We have to give this a try. We’ve prayed to countless deities for help, and only one of them reached out, and we just… we need you, George.”

Deities? There were gods now? Exactly how much information had been withheld from George in his many years of being alive? “I…” George swallowed, he was never one to be able to refuse people easily. Plus, the thought of adventure, no matter how terrifying, sent spikes of adrenaline shooting down his spine. “If my father agrees to it, then I’ll do it. I don’t want the downfall of our world to be on my hands.” He swallowed nervously and wrung his hands out a little bit. 

Wilbur and Tommy both broke out into ear-splitting grins, and even Technoblade cracked the tiniest of smirks. “Oh, splendid! You don’t know how much this means to us, truly. Even if Sol isn’t real, just the acceptance, oh my gosh, George, thank you so much.” Wilbur gushed out, and crushed George into another rib-breaking hug. 

The doors to the castle opened, and King Phil strode out into the gardens, a disgruntled expression on his face. His features instantly softened when he saw all of his sons, and George felt a pang of jealousy at the idea of a loving father. “The King refused to let Prince George come with us,” he admitted solemnly, “I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

George sighed shakily, looking down at his hands. This was the first time he had ever been offered to be someone more than a pristine statue, something to prove himself worthy of actually being king. 

Maybe if this worked, he would be considered a hero. People would know who he was! He could be more than just the son of King George III! “I want to come anyways. I can write a letter to my father explaining where I’m going, and come with you one night. I want to do this.” He set his mouth into a firm line, begging for someone to please take him seriously for once. 

Philza stared at George in awe, both of them eye-to-eye, as they were roughly the same height. Then, all of a sudden, he gave George a smile that radiated the warmth of a hundred campfires. “I always knew you were different from your father. Meet us at the horse stables at midnight, George, we have a carriage large enough to fit all of us. Well, it’s not like the carriages here, as there’s no roof or seats or doors, but it does the trick. All you need to bring is yourself, we can provide for your other needs.” 

George felt almost light-headed as Wilbur squeezed his arm, the Sleepy family all acting as though they were exhausted so they could nap. George stayed behind in the courtyard, his head spinning with excitement and fear and everything in between. He would finally get to leave. Finally live up to the greatness of the Eos family, show the world that he was more than some silly pawn in his father’s cruel chess game. 

“Your Highness,” George’s head snapped up to see Dream, who was still standing a small distance away in the same position as always, “with all due respect, I think that this is a really stupid idea. Do you really expect to go on this huge adventure without any previous experience? You could get yourself killed.”

That dampened George’s mood just a little bit. Of course he wasn’t experienced, he wasn’t trained for intense missions and fighting and adventuring like Dream. The cogs turned in his brain until they finally sputtered to full power, and George stared at Dream’s crudely drawn mask. 

“Then come with me.”


	3. Carriage Rides and New Information

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> George escapes his castle with the Sleepy family, we get a lot of background information on Dream and Technoblade, and George has never had beef jerky before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry guys, this is kind of just a filler chapter so we don't automatically transition from the Eos Kingdom to the Sleepy Kingdom. my writing is a little bit rushed, so I'm super sorry about that. i hope you've enjoyed the story so far, though! i'm writing this to get better at my own writing, so i hope it improves with time.

Dream scoffed and crossed his arms, which seemed a little difficult to do in his bulky armor. “I’m disobeying the king to help his _only_ heir on some wild goose chase for a weapon that might not even be real. I have a _job_ , Your Highness.” His voice was slightly on-edge, almost as if he weren’t as sure about refusing as he looked.

George could work with this; he’d seen Bad talk to enough people to know how to sway someone’s opinion on a matter. “What if I _ordered_ you to accompany me? It’s considered awfully rude to refuse an order from your next-in-line King, isn’t it?” George smirked as Dream looked at the ground, clearly conflicted.

“Look, you’re the _only_ one who knows about this,” George told the knight, “if you wanted to, you could rat me out to my father right now, tell him everything. Remember last night? When I told you about how much I wanted to go out and explore the world? You told me you supported it. If you don’t want to accompany me, that’s alright, I understand. I just want you to promise me one thing. Do _not_ tell my father about this. If it takes paying you large sums of money for you to keep your mouth shut, then so be it.”

Dream visibly swallowed and gripped the sword handle in his sheath. “I don’t want your death on my hands, Your Highness.” he mumbled softly, already sounding incredibly guilty.

George smiled at the knight and patted his arm with a smile. “I told you, just call me George. I won’t die, I’ll make sure of that. The Eos family is the family of the sun, after all, and the sun never dies.” Finally, after a pregnant pause, Dream nodded solemnly. A floaty feeling settled in George’s stomach, inflating his lungs and spiraling into a thousand possibilities.

Without a second thought, even though he hated physical contact, George flung his arms around Dream’s clunky armor, having to stretch up on his tiptoes to hug the clearly startled knight. Dream patted George’s back once or twice before George pulled away, grinning wildly. “You will be _handsomely_ rewarded when I returned, Dream.” George said, his eyes glimmering with excitement.

~

Dinner passed without a hitch, knowing glances shared around the room. George didn’t see Dream, but he did see Sapnap guarding the hall during dinner, blissfully unaware of what was to happen. Now George was dipping his quill in the inkpot, empty parchment on the desk in front of him, a candle burning softly next to him.

_Dear Father,_

_I’ve made my choice. I’m going with the Sleepy family to their kingdom, where they will equip me with everything I need to go on a quest to find Sol. Since you won’t help the other suffering kingdoms defeat the Shadow-Walkers, I have taken upon the duty of doing so myself. Don’t send any search parties after me—if I die, it will be with honor, and the satisfaction of doing everything that you were too selfish to do. If I return, it will either be with the honor of helping save our world, or with my dead body in a casket. Either way, I will be prouder of myself than you would ever be._

_Sincerely,_

_Prince George Eos IV_

George decided to simply leave the paper on his desk—somebody would find it eventually. A twinge of a guilty harp sang softly in George’s stomach at the thought of Bad walking in to wake him up only to see an empty room, but it was for the good of everyone else. Bad would understand; he always did.

Putting on the most comfortable clothes he had, along with a pair of raggedy boots he hadn’t worn in years, George felt as prepared as he could be. Now was the difficult part—escaping the castle. It was nearly midnight, so the Sleepy Family would be in the carriage, but George had to sneak out of the castle without being spotted. It wouldn’t be a problem if Dream saw him, but anyone else would be tricky.

George tiptoed down a few flights of stairs and saw the stables exit in the line of sight when there was a loud cough to his left. George spun around in fear and saw Dream standing in the shadows, leaning against a wall casually. If it weren’t for the mask, George wouldn’t have recognized him, as he had ditched his clunky metal armor for a set of lightweight leather armor. “I changed my mind, Your High—George.” He stated firmly, almost like he was convincing himself that this was a good idea.

“Oh?”

Dream nodded stiffly. “You’re the best hope for the future of this kingdom, and I can’t let you die, so I’ll protect you on your journey.”

George smiled brightly at Dream and opened the door to the outside, gesturing for his knight to follow. This was going even better than planned, George thought to himself, and the two men saw the large carriage almost instantly. Sneeg and an unfamiliar knight George didn’t recognize were both sat in the front, where there were two horses to move the carriage, which looked like the type of vehicle that moved giant stacks of haybales, not the intricate boxes George was used to.

King Philza, Prince Wilbur, Prince Technoblade and Prince Tommy were all sitting on the benches of the carriage, a few backpacks in the center. “If it’s alright with you, I’d like to bring a knight along with me.” George said, flitting his gaze between the laid-back family.

“Of course!” Philza said kindly and gestured to the empty bench area next to him and the floor as well. “Make yourselves comfortable, this will be around a two-day journey. We’ll stop twice to feed and rest the horses, and then we’ll be at the Sleepy Castle. We’ll give you a few days to prepare if that’s what you wish.”

George muttered out his appreciation and sat down cross-legged on the floor, leaning onto one of the backpacks for some semblance of comfort. The movement of the horses on the well-trodden paths was more relaxing than George expected, joustling his body every few seconds but overall not being a terrible experience.

“Is it true that gods and deities actually exist?” George asked out of the blue, and then shut his mouth when he realized that Wilbur, Tommy and Philza were all asleep.

Technoblade, however, was still awake, and he looked up from the book he was reading to stare at George with bored crimson eyes. “Of course. There are countless of them, all varying in power and age. They almost never take mortal forms, but once in a blue moon one might interfere in human antics in some form. I would know…”

George raised an eyebrow for the reserved prince to continue, and Technoblade turned his back towards George and lifted his shirt slightly. On the middle of his back was a bright red symbol that looked it could have belonged on some sort of spell circle. “Mark of the Blood God.” the man said plainly, and tugged his shirt back on to face George, his eyes much more menacing than before.

“The Blood God?” George inquired.

“We needed a quick, short-term solution to the Shadow-Walkers and their strange vines,” Technoblade explained calmly, “and I had kept having strange dreams about a chalice of blood that whispered to be consumed. I finally drank it one night, and then woke up the next morning with this branded into my back. I now have the strength of ten men, the speed of a wolf, the agility of a panther…”

George tapped on his knee, fully captivated by Technoblade’s words. He didn’t _look_ like he was as strong as ten men. “I’m assuming it came with a price, Technoblade? One outside of the branding, I’d imagine.” The question was almost rhetorical—if any tales were an indication.

The corner of Technoblade’s mouth twitched just a fraction. “Call me Techno, it’s what all my brothers do. There’s no intricate rituals or intense dreaming sessions, only a requirement that I satiate the Blood God’s thirst every few days. For some reason, the shadow-vines have a strange liquid inside of them that seems to satisfy the Blood God, so that’s how I’ve been keeping it at bay.”

The stars winked in and out of view for a little while, the only noise being the moving carriage and the occasional snore from Tommy. George turned to his right to see that Dream was still wide awake, listening to George and Techno’s conversation with interest.

Techno noticed Dream’s staring and shut his book. “For someone without visible eyes, you sure stare a lot. What’s your name? You from the Eos Kingdom?” he set his book down to his side, giving his undivided attention to George’s knight. The prince seemed completely unbothered by the white mask, staring at Dream almost as if he were looking _through_ the mask.

Dream shifted in his position, on the very edge of the carriage, as if Techno’s gaze was making him uncomfortable. “My name is Dream, I’ve been a knight for about two years, and I grew up in the Enchanted Undergrowth. That’s all you need to know.”

“A normal human living in the Enchanted Undergrowth?” George asked, confused and a little bit excited about learning about the mysterious knight who decided to join George on his journey. “You must have some sort of magic then, right?”

Dream shook his head. “No magic, I’m afraid. I was raised by sort of everyone in our region, but I didn’t want to live there my whole life—I wanted to be a knight.” As if showing off, Dream pulled his sword out of its sheath and sat it in his lap. It was large and wide, certainly dangerous, but the strangest part was how Dream twisted the handle to open up for a small handful of tiny rocks to fall out.

“The only runekeeper in the Enchanted Undergrowth gave these to me,” Dream explained, rolling the rocks around in his hand, “right before I left. Nobody ever saw his face, it was always covered by his hair and a scarf, but he has singlehandedly protected the Undergrowth for as long as I’ve been there, never aging once.”

Techno opened one of the backpacks and pulled out a handful of some sort of dried meat, offering some to George and Dream. Dream quickly took it with a quiet “thank you”, pushing up his mask just a little bit to tear into the food.

George hesitantly took some of it, rolling it between his fingers. “Dried meat is commonly used by travelers to save up space in their bags… but this is only a two-day travel.” He nibbled curiously at the edge of a piece, and then tore a chunk off, feeling slightly embarrassed at how gross it probably looked to other people—but this wasn’t the castle. It was fine. He could do things like this, it was obvious that the Sleepy family didn’t care, and neither did Dream.

“You really haven’t been outside of your castle, have you?” Techno asked, watching as George chewed on the dried meat in fascination.

George shook his head and leaned back a little bit. He had never felt this relaxed in the past two days, what with hanging out with the knights and then escaping, than he had in his whole life. His limbs felt like jelly, he could slouch just a little bit, he wasn’t wearing his heavy robes or stupid crown. “The stars are beautiful.” He noted simply, staring in awe at the beautiful twinkling white dots in the dark blue sky.

“Phil took us all over the lands once,” Techno said, a tiny smile threatening to ghost over his unusually pale face, “said to be a good king, you have to be able to put yourself in anyone’s shoes, and to do that you had to experience as much of the world as possible. He took us to mountains, valleys, lakes, other kingdoms, deserts and everything in between. The only places I haven’t been are the Enchanted Undergrowth, the Sky Dwellers—that’s where Phil’s from, I think—and the Lost Treasures… but nobody can find the Lost Treasures on purpose.”

George had read about all of those places in books. The Enchanted Undergrowth was an enormous magical cavern filled with strange trees and plants, and even stranger creatures. The Sky Dwellers were peaceful, monk-like people who lived in a marble palace above the clouds and found birds to be sacred creatures. Lost Treasures was the one George found the most fascinating—a floating island above an endless sea that was made out of artifacts lost in time, with things from jewelry and swords to spellbooks and statues. For all anyone knew, it could be a myth.

“Wasn’t Phil a Sky Dweller?” Dream asked after finishing his dried meat, and Techno nodded. “How come you’ve never been there, then, if he’s one of them? Does he have bad blood or something?”

Techno shrugged, and George leaned back even further into the backpack, his eyes growing heavy despite how much he wanted to stay in the conversation with these two interesting people. “He said it would be too difficult to bring all three of us up there with him, but he told us he wants to take us there one day when situations were less dire.”

“Oh, well, I’ve always found the Sky Dwellers to be absolutely fascinating, especially how they…” George’s eyes slipped shut, and he faded away into one of his deepest sleeps before Dream could finish his sentence, falling slowly into the world of dreams and visions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 70 reads already?! you guys are the best, holy cow! i'm glad you guys have taken the time to read this, and i hope you all drink lots of water and have a wonderful day! chapter uploads can range anywhere from 3 days to a week, it really depends on how inspired i feel, i get random bursts of information. thank you guys for reading and giving kudos, i love you all so much! <3 
> 
> \- moose :]


	4. Space, Time and Angst

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A wild time traveler appears! Two angry knights argue, and things get a little complicated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! sorry if this chapter isn't very good, i've been obsessed with the idea of time-traveler karl ever since tales of the smp! i think i might start writing the songs i listened to while writing at the end of chapters, if that's okay with you guys.

Sapnap couldn’t sleep. Even after the knights had all finished searching, even after they all looked ready to pass out after searching for Prince George and Dream until the sun was fully in the sky, the boisterous knight couldn’t catch any sleep. How could he?

 _This is all my fault,_ Sapnap thought to himself, standing outside of the castle’s gates on guard duty, _I should’ve stopped Dream when he told me he was escaping with George. Now they’ve gone and run away, the only heir to the Eos throne on some stupid mission_.

“Stop blaming yourself, man,” Punz said from a few feet away, kicking the ground with his foot. Sapnap startled and looked over at his friend—could he read minds or something? “When Dream wants something, nothing can stand in the way. All _three_ of us are like that, dude.”

Sapnap opened his mouth to argue, but before he could, there was a bright flash of green light roughly half a mile into the woods, a bright green ball shining and then quickly stopping. Punz and Sapnap exchanged surprised glances. “You check it out,” Punz said, unsheathing his sword and standing at ready, “call for help if you need it.”

Sapnap nodded, pulling out his own special weapons—two decently sized hatchets, both strapped to his back. He began walking through the forest towards where the flash was, taking in all of his sights around him. _Remember what Dream told you—you focus too much on one thing. Don’t get tunnel vision, look at all of your surroundings_.

He was too far away to yell for Punz to help. Sapnap swallowed, clutching his two hatchets tighter in his hands. There was a shuffling movement a few feet ahead of him, and Sapnap quickly hid behind a tree, trying to breathe as little as possible. _You’re such a coward without your friends there, you can take on whatever creature this is with ease—you’re a knight, for Eos’ sake!_

The leaves crunched under the creature’s feet, growing closer, so Sapnap took no time to take action, swiftly throwing one of his hatchets in a perfect overhand arc that would have hit his target square in the chest if it weren’t for how the creature immediately squealed and fell to the ground, pleads slipping from his mouth in a high-pitched voice at record speed.

“Please, I’m not an enemy, I swear, please don’t kill me! I can’t—don’t hurt me!” the voice was very obviously human, so Sapnap sheathed his second axe and moved from behind the tree to see the strangest person he had ever laid eyes on.

The man looked around Sapnap’s height, but it was hard to tell when he was on the ground. He wore an incredibly colorful and long coat, filled with purple and yellow and green. Spiraled spectacles rested on top of his head, showing vulnerable eyes that could pass for blue or gray, and something was clipped to his coat with a chain—Sapnap couldn’t tell if it was a hand-sized clock or a compass.

“Magic is prohibited this close to the castle.” Sapnap said, wrenching his hatchet from where it was buried in a tree. The stranger whimpered out an apology and Sapnap frowned at him. “You’re not from here, are you?”

The stranger shook his head furiously and tapped his clock-compass a few times. Then he looked at Sapnap, with his armor and weapons, and his face blanched at least six shades lighter than it previously was. “Oh my god… I went _way_ too far back.” He whispered to himself and desperately clenched his fists, squeezing his eyes shut as if he was about to perform more magic.

“Who are you?!” Sapnap cried out before grabbing onto the man’s collar and yanking him up into a standing position.

The stranger yelped and struggled in Sapnap’s grip to no avail. “Karl! My name’s Karl! You’re right, I’m not from here, but I _swear_ it was an accident, I’m not supposed to be here. Can you tell me where I am? I can’t get back to where I was for at _least_ another month.”

Sapnap scowled and tightened his grip on Karl. “How do you not know—you’re in the Eos Kingdom, and as a knight of King George III, I hereby place you under arrest for trespassing on the king’s property and conducting magic so close to his presence.” His voice was hard and unforgiving, but if Sapnap was being honest, he was more just curious as to who this magical man. Maybe his strange magic could help find Dream and Prince George?

“Arrested?!” the strange man cried out in disbelief as Sapnap slung him over his shoulder with ease, not even putting up a fight, “you wouldn’t let me rot away in a cell for an entire _month_ before I can go back, right? That’s inhumane!”

Sapnap sighed and continued walking over to Punz, who regarded Karl with a puzzled look in his blue eyes. “Weird outfit to be parading outside the castle and performing magic in.” he muttered quietly but nodded at Sapnap as he veered right to near the back of the castle, opening a dark door that led down a damp staircase to the dungeons.

People were rarely ever kept in the castle dungeons as most petty criminals were held in a jail on the outskirts of the city. The only person in the dungeons at the current moment was a notorious scam artist who made thousands of dollars off selling fake potions and passing them off as real, a masked man who went by “Ponk”.

That’s why the only person inside of the dungeons was one of the younger servants and a personal favorite of Sapnap, an excitable boy named Tubbo. “Oh, hi Sapnap!” Tubbo greeted the knight enthusiastically from… inside of Ponk’s cell?

“Tubbo, what did I tell you about talking to the prisoners?” Sapnap scolded the young servant, who looked down at the ground with a guilty look in his eyes. “One of them could easily beat you to a bloody pulp and take the keys from you. Don’t tell me you’ve been giving him extra food, too…”

Tubbo laughed nervously and slipped out of Ponk’s cell, locking the cell behind him. He watched in fascination as Sapnap practically threw Karl into the cell across from Ponk, who fell onto the hay pile on the ground with an audible “oof”. “Who’s this?” Tubbo asked, staring into the cell at Karl.

“Caught him using magic, some weird green ball of light, right outside of the castle.” Sapnap replied gruffly, shooting Karl a filthy look as if the man was the reason all of this had happened. “Karl, meet Tubbo, the only person here who’ll be nice to you. He’s in charge of giving meals and water to the prisoners.”

Tubbo grinned at Karl as Sapnap brooded in a corner. “Don’t worry, Sapnap isn’t usually this moody. The Prince left the castle with one of the knights to go with the Sleepy Family on some quest to help get rid of the Shadow-Walkers, and Sapnap’s secretly jealous he didn’t get to go with them.” He chattered to Karl, whose eyes widened comically to swivel his head and look at Sapnap.

“ _That’s_ Sapnap?” he murmured to himself as Tubbo left the dungeons to get Karl something to eat. “So that’s what year I’m in… the paintings _really_ didn’t do him justice, he’s much more handsome in person.”

All Sapnap heard was muttering coming from the crazy man in the cell, and finally, out of sheer curiosity, he approached Karl’s cell cautiously, where the man blinked innocently up at him. “You magic people are all tricksters, so I need you to promise me—no games while I ask you some questions. Understand?” Sapnap dragged a chair to sit outside of the cell and sat down.

Karl nodded and Sapnap sighed. “What sort of magic do you perform?” he asked, a decently surface-level question.

“Ah, well, you see, I’m technically not permitted to answer that question, since someone might find out and I could get in _big_ trouble. It’s already been proven that a few slip-ups won’t affect an already existing timeline, but everyone’s still really—”

Sapnap cut Karl off by slamming his hands onto the cell bars, rattling them and succeeding in spooking Karl enough to stop talking. “Answer the question.” He said, gritting his teeth ever-so-slightly.

“I’m a time traveler!” Karl squeaked out, clearly afraid of the weapons that rested on Sapnap’s back. Sapnap reached for one of his hatchets, so Karl quickly continued speaking. “I’m serious! I—I’m from five hundred years in your future, but I’ve been to at least six different time periods. I can prove it, too, I know who you are! You’re Sir Sapnap, a famous knight of the Eos Kingdom who sacri—er, who helped saved the world in the infamous Shadow War! There’s paintings of you in museums and everything!”

Sapnap scowled and lowered his hand. _A time traveler? Is that even possible? Is he messing with me? No, he seemed too serious and specific…_ “If you know who I am, then… do you know where Dream and Prince George are going? I want to help them.” Sapnap’s grip on the bars turned slightly desperate as he searched into Karl’s eyes for an answer.

“I do, but I don’t know if I can interfere… oh, but it’s a new timeline, and as long as I don’t say _too_ much… oh dear heavens, this is stressful!” Karl placed a hand on his forehead and puffed out his cheeks in an exhale, clearly at war with his own mind.

Sapnap rolled his eyes and tapped his foot impatiently. “Think of it this way—you’ll get front row seats to this ‘major historical event’ you know so much about, yeah? You don’t have to do any of the action, just lead me to where they are, and then you can go live in a village until you’re able to travel back to your own time period.”

Karl seemed to instantly brighten at that, his eyes becoming thoughtful and curious. “I suppose you’re right… you never documented your journey to find them, so I have no clue how you managed to do it all on your own! Oh, this will be so fascinating to watch. When do we leave?” Karl grinned up at Sapnap, and something in the dark-haired man’s heart stuttered a little bit.

“You’re leaving?”

Both Karl and Sapnap turned to see Punz and Tubbo standing in the doorway, Tubbo holding a plate of food in his hands. “You can’t leave,” Punz said, his eyes and voice guarded, “that’ll make two of our best knights gone.” Tubbo glanced frantically between Punz and Sapnap, who now looked just the slightest bit guilty.

Sapnap smiled and placed a hand comfortingly on Punz’s shoulder. “You’ll still be here, Punz! You’re one of the best—”

“Shut up!” Punz shouted, shoving Sapnap’s hand away from him violently. “You can’t do this, you _can’t_! Why are you and Dream so obsessed with these adventures? Why can’t you just stay here with me and do your fucking job?”

Sapnap was slightly in shock from Punz’s sudden outburst but recovered quickly. “Stop being selfish, Punz, I’m trying to go help Dream and Prince George defeat the Shadow-Walkers!” he retorted. Obviously, that was the wrong thing to say, as Punz’s jaw instantly clenched and he slammed his fist directly into Sapnap’s face, causing the shorter man to stumble backwards and clutch at his nose.

“ _I’m_ being selfish? Seriously?! You two always do this, always go off and do your own thing while I’m stuck behind cleaning up after your stupid, dirty mess! I’m the one who always gets us out of trouble, I’m the one who takes the brute of the punishments, and you’re calling _me_ selfish?” Punz’s voice got louder with every word until they turned into a thunderous roar, his eyes filled with hurt and betrayal.

Sapnap grit his teeth and stood back straight despite the blood that was now beginning to trickle down from his nose, flames of guilt burning him alive but fueling the bottomless determination at the bottom of his gut.

The two knights stood at a stand-still for a brief moment until Punz realized Sapnap wasn’t backing down anytime soon. Defeat weighed his shoulders down to a slouch, and his bright blue eyes turned dull. “Take two horses, and _don’t come back_ unless you’re with the prince.”

Perhaps Sapnap should’ve tried to make amends with his friend before leaving.

Maybe he should’ve apologized.

Instead, Sapnap grabbed onto Karl’s arm and led him out of his cell, brushing past a defeated Punz and a shell-shocked Tubbo.

“Does he ever forgive me, Karl?”

“I don’t know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> songs i listened to while writing this chapter: "tangerine" by glass animals, "baby hotline" by jack stauber, "people i don't like" by upsahl, "soldier, poet, king" by the oh hellos. i listened to some others, too, but these are the only ones i can remember from today lol. thank you guys so much for over 100 hits, i can't believe so many people took the time to read this! you guys are the greatest. please comment any questions you have about this world i've made, i know it can get a tad confusing. love u all <3
> 
> \- moose :)


	5. Magic Older Than Philza

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Sleepy Kingdom warmly welcomes George and Dream, George discovers that he may be magical after all, and Dream seems abnormally hesitant about the future of the mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for not updating in so long!! i can't BELIEVE we've gotten so many reads so far, you guys are the best! <3 feel free to comment your favorite parts about the story, or things you want me to work on, i'd love to interact with you guys more, and comments make me so gosh darn happy. y'all are the coolest :)

The Sleepy Kingdom was beautiful, but in such a different way than the Eos Kingdom. Children ran freely along the castle grounds, sometimes they were even playing with the friendly knights. Laughter could be heard from everywhere, including the markets near the castle.

There was no big ceremony for the king’s return, simply smiles from the knights and squeals of glee from the kids that played with their families. “I didn’t know your family was this big.” George remarked, staring at the palace in awe. It was a gorgeous white palace that wasn’t nearly as tall as the Eos Castle, but it made up for that in how sprawling it was.

Philza laughed and turned to meet George’s wide eyes. “None of these people are my family, simply guests that wish to spend a crisp autumn day on our lawn. Come with me, I want to show you the best view in all of the kingdom.” He smiled warmly at the awe-struck prince, who seemed to be in shock that random citizens were allowed on the front lawn of the palace.

Once glance at Dream showed that he was just as shocked, lifting up his mask to show an enormous grin on his face as he took in the scents and sights of the kingdom. It smelled like the ocean, an unfamiliar scent to both of them, salty and fresh and magnificent.

George stayed near the back of the group as he followed Phil around the outside of the huge palace, but when he looked behind his shoulder he caught his first glance of everyone’s mutual enemy.

A hideous and thick black vine had sprouted from a crack in the dirt, ugly thorns poking out from it in a jagged fashion. “Um, King Philza?” he called out, and the king turned around along with the rest of his family. The moment their eyes settled on the vine, their eyes darkened to a somber mood.

Technoblade growled and brought up his sword, his ruby eyes flashing brightly. It was a lovely sword, thin as a needle, yet it somehow slashed through the vine with ease. A shiny black liquid oozed out of the vine, seeping into the ground like it had a mind of its own.

Almost as if he wasn’t thinking voluntarily, George reached out to touch the vine. Wilbur cried out a warning but it was too late, George’s palm rested on top of the vine. It grew warm under his touch—uncomfortably so, and the Sleepy family watched in rapt fascination as George’s hand started glowing, the entire vine disintegrating underneath his touch until there was nothing left, not even the liquid.

“What the hell?” Tommy asked after a beat of silence, immediately grabbing at George’s hand and squinting at it. Wilbur swatted away Tommy’s grip, but his brown eyes were still in slight shock as if he couldn’t quite process what had happened.

George was the most surprised out of them all, staring at his hand like it was about to grow six extra fingers. “I don’t…” he swallowed and glanced at Dream, whose mask was fully on his face, not revealing a single emotion from him.

“I’ll show you the view later,” King Philza said after getting a grip back on reality, “but for now I think we need to have a meeting with our Head Mage.”

The Head Mage turned out to be the person left in charge while the whole family was out, and according to Tommy, he was a little bit strange. The throne room was much more humble than George expected, as the throne was only a little bit bigger than an office chair, and it wasn’t elevated at all. There were three other slightly smaller thrones, one for each son and each one decorated differently.

The person on the throne had a black blindfold tied across his eyes, but he turned to the entering family as if he could see them perfectly, which unsettled George. “Your Majesty, Your Highnesses,” he greeted them, his voice rich and deep, “it’s wonderful to see your return. How was your trip? I see you successfully convinced the Prince of Eos to come with you.”

Philza smiled and shook the man’s hand, who hopped off the throne with ease. “The trip was smooth both ways, however, we’ve just made a discovery about Prince George’s connections to the shadow-vines that we think you should take a look at—ah, Prince George, meet Head Mage Eret. Eret, this is Prince George and his knight, Dream.”

“Charmed,” Eret said with a smile and took George’s hand in his own. Eret hummed softly and dug his fingers into George’s palm, his brows furrowed in concentration. “This is ancient magic, older than almost anything I’ve seen—the type of magic that existed before the dirt under our feet was created.”

George frowned and picked at the dirt under his nails of the hand Eret wasn’t touching. “Nobody has had any sort of magic in the Eos family in _centuries_ ,” he murmured and looked curiously at the blindfold covering Eret’s eyes.

“Magic this old isn’t normal magic, my friend,” Eret told George kindly, “it is light in its purest form, a warm glow to humans but a melting burn to darkness, which I believe the Shadow-Walkers and their vines are made of. You most likely didn’t know you had it because there was no need to use it, same with the rest of your family.”

Tommy scoffed and rolled his eyes, tiny bolts of lightning flickering around his fingertips like they each had minds of their own. “Been chatting with your dead ghost friends?” he asked, the grin on his face the only indicator that he meant well towards the blindfolded man.

“Ghost friends?” Dream inquired with crossed arms. George would bet money that Dream was wearing a skeptical expression.

Eret chuckled low and deep before he removed the blindfold from his eyes, an audible gasp slipping from George’s mouth before he could swallow it down. Eret’s eyes were simply not there, an opaque white smoke filling in the empty hole, swirling around his sockets like it was alive. “I see ghosts and I speak with them sometimes. I can also summon people from the afterlife as a ghost, but it’s dangerous and takes away my energy quite easily.”

“Put the blindfold back on before I get nightmares again.” Tommy said and Eret obliged and tied the blindfold back on.

Wilbur stomped on Tommy’s shoe as a warning, and the blonde boy yelped in pain before elbowing his brother with a bony elbow. Eret didn’t pay them any mind, as if he had experienced it plenty of times before. “I believe the reason only your family can wield Sol is because of the ancient magic you hold, Prince George. The location, however, is a bit worrying—it’s located deep within the caverns in the Enchanted Undergrowth, and we know very little about the mystery area, or even how to _get_ there.”

Both George and Technoblade immediately turned to face Dream, who had one hand on his sword’s sheath as if he was contemplating whether or not to behead someone. “Well?” George asked, cocking an eyebrow. “You’re from the Enchanted Undergrowth. Do you know how to get there?” King Philza and Wilbur exchanged surprised glances at the realization.

When Dream didn’t reply, George sighed and placed a hand on Dream’s shoulder, and the knight flinched for a split second. “I won’t ask you, Dream,” George demanded, his grip tightening and a hard look appeared in his eyes, something that was only seen in the cold gaze of King George III, “this is an order from your prince. Now tell me—how do we get to the Enchanted Undergrowth?”

Dream visibly swallowed and George immediately removed his hand from his shoulder, a bewildered look in his eyes. _Why did I do that? Only my father does that when he wants something._ “I can make a portal. I’ll need your help and resources though, Eret, and I won’t be able to finish until tomorrow. King Philza, would you mind if we stayed the night here?” his voice was void of any emotion, and George felt guilt trickle down his gut, a cold syrup trickling over shaved ice.

Philza quickly composed himself and smiled at his two guests, clasping his hands together. “Of course, anything you need. We’ll set up packs with plenty of food, water and bandages for you, as well as two bedrolls. Technoblade will take you to your room, George, and someone will bring you dinner whenever it’s ready.” George murmured a quiet thank you to the king with endless kindness.

George momentarily wished he was more like Philza, a merciful and generous king whose subjects loved him as much as their own families. Eret placed a hand on Dream’s shoulder and they both walked off, presumably to set up a portal to the Enchanted Undergrowth.

Techno’s steps down the beautiful hallways of the palace were almost silence, especially compared to George’s loud footsteps. The guest room was smaller than George’s room in the Eos castle, but it was still gorgeous, with walls painted like a cloudy morning sky and a comfortable bed.

The two men exchanged stiff nods before Technoblade left, leaving George by himself with his spinning thoughts. _Is my father worried about me? Does he care that I’m gone? Are Bad and Skeppy alright?_ Worries and doubts wrapped around George’s brain and squeezed like venomous snakes as he sat down on the floor, playing with his shirt. He hoped some extra clothes would be included in their traveling bags. _How long will we be gone for? Where will we travel? What if Sol doesn’t exist? What do I do after I get the sword? How do we even defeat the Shadow-Walkers? Why did I agree to do this? Is Dream upset with me? Why is he so hesitant to go to the Enchanted Undergrowth? Who—_

George’s thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. Prince Tommy sauntered into the room with a bowl of vegetables and some type of cooked bird coated in a dark yellow sauce. A glass of wine was in his other hand, and he set the food down on the desk near the front of the room.

“’Ello, George,” he greeted the prince with a toothy grin, “excited for your big adventure? You’re gonna be a hero, mate. You know, I exchange letters with a servant from your kingdom—do you know Tubbo by any chance? He’s an alchemist I think, and he’s absolutely _fascinated_ by the Enchanted Undergrowth. Do you reckon you could grab, like, a rock or something from there for him? He’d absolutely love it. I met him for the first time when we visited your kingdom, you know, he’s _terribly_ short—I wonder if he’s got a condition or something that makes him so small.”

“I know Tubbo, he’s a good kid.”

Tommy’s eyes instantly brightened as he set off on another tirade, George taking the opportunity to shove the delicious food into his mouth as the boy talked his ear off. “Tubbo says you’ll get arrested if you get caught using magic too close to the castle, is that true? Yeah? Good god, I reckon that’s because your dad’s a bit of a cowardly prick. I’m not a prick, you know, I’m quite the big man. I’m only sixteen and I’m only a few inches shorter than Wilbur—I reckon I’ll be taller than him in a few years. I want to find Tubbo again and bring him here to live with us, I just know that when Phil meets him he’ll absolutely adore him.” Tommy continued on and on as George finished eating, the wine soothing his nerves just a little bit and making him a little bit sleepy.

“And that’s why I’m banned from the west wing of Schlatt’s big ole’ mansion he calls the royal palace. I haven’t been there in _years_ , and I’ve heard there’s some sketchy business happening over there, but I don’t really know. Their chief diplomat is _really_ cool though, have you met Connor? He showed me some cool spellbooks a few years back that I still keep in my room. He’s way cooler than your diplomat, Bad—I reckon he’s got a stick shoved somewhere up his arse, he always scolds me like I’m a toddler or something. Skeppy’s alright, the pranks he pulls are pretty funny actually. One time I saw him—”

“Thank you for bringing dinner, Tommy,” George interrupted the kid before he could talk for another twenty minutes, “but I’m starting to get tired, and I want to be well-rested before my quest tomorrow.”

To George’s surprise, Tommy didn’t look offended at all—his smile actually grew even wider, almost to the point of maniacal. “Of course, of course! Wouldn’t want to keep you up too late. I’ll catch you in the morning then, Gogy—can I call you Gogy? That’s a funny name. Anyways, sleep well, my friend, I’ll take your dishes. Goodnight!”

The silence after Tommy exited the room was something akin to pure bliss as George climbed into the unfamiliar bed, sighing into one of the pillows with a small smile on his face. Despite his annoying nature, Tommy was good at distracting George from his adventure tomorrow. Did the fate of the world seriously rest in the hands of an inexperienced and stupid prince?

George could hear soft guitar music being played from somewhere in the palace, most likely Wilbur. A warm and honeyed voice was singing with the musical notes, but it was too quiet and muffled for George to tell what exactly he was singing. George wished he could be able to fall asleep to music every night. He wished he had siblings, adopted or not, that he could blame accidents on, or bicker with, or tell his darkest secrets to.

George could feel his thoughts slowly becoming sluggish and lazy as sleep offered a waltz, taking George’s hand and pulling him into the blissful dance of a dreamless rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading this chapter!! things will start to pick up more next chapter, and we'll be introduced to some of my favorite characters (hint: one's a centaur with a bright red nose and the other is a strangely intelligent fox)! the songs i listened to the most while writing this chapter were "touch-tone telephone" by Lemon Demon, "Girls in Bikinis" by Poppy and "Look Away" by The Dear Hunter. i hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, expect another chapter update within a week's time or sooner! love u guys <3
> 
> \- moose (my twitter is @sleepycanoes in case you'd like to be friends! if this gains a bigger audience i'll consider posting fic updates/sneak peeks there, but for now it's just where i talk to other people on mcyttwt, pptwt, sleepytwt and clingytwt!!)


	6. Welcome To The Enchanted Undergrowth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> George meets Dream's friends from the Enchanted Undergrowth, and it grows increasingly obvious that there are some unresolved issues between Dream and a certain fox.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SO SORRY FOR TAKING SO LONG!!!! I didn't mean to take so long, I kept writing and re-writing this chapter, and I wasn't sure how to get it quite right for a while. This one's a bit longer than the others, but we introduce a LOT of new characters in this chapter that I think you guys will really like. Again, I'm so sorry for taking so long, so expect another chapter in the next week or two. thank you all so much for reading! <3

“Are all magical portals this… translucent?” George was stood apprehensively in front of a large portal in the floor that opened up into a purple void that was so mysterious it looked like it would send them into an endless abyss of death.

Dream had the larger of the two backpacks on his back, the one with all of the food and first-aid kits, while George was holding the one with the bedrolls and money. George hesitantly turned to Dream for confirmation that would not send them to certain death, but instead of seeing the loyal knight, he was met with an aggressive shove from Tommy, who cackled loudly with laughter before all noise disappeared.

For a split second there was nothing. No noise, no feeling, not even any thoughts. Then George was met with a mouthful of spongy dirt that he spat out in disgust, his head spinning and his legs feeling almost like jelly. The portal was nowhere to be found, but Dream was crouched right next to George, rolling a handful of dirt in his palm.

George stood up to take in his surroundings, but any comment about his headache or nerves was instantly wiped away when he took his first glance at the Enchanted Undergrowth. The air was blistering and hot, sweat already starting to prickle on George’s forehead.

“Warmer than you expected, isn’t it?” Dream joked from behind George, his mask reflecting the orange light just slightly. Despite how uncomfortable he had seemed at first about traveling the Enchanted Undergrowth, Dream looked almost as relaxed as he had been the first night George met him.

George smiled and looked at his pale arms that almost seemed to glow in the reflections of their surroundings. “How do you reckon we find Sol in here? Did anyone ever tell you about the sword?” he looked up to his taller friend patiently.

“There were rumors of an ancient sword when I was a kid, I just never made the connection. If we can just find our way to a Warped Forest, I can get in contact with people who might know the location.”

“Lead the way, my brave knight.” George drawled out lazily, already feeling slightly sluggish from the heat.

Dream led the way through the slow and brown sand, George trudging lazily behind him. How long would this take? Where would they go? “The stories I heard about the Enchanted Undergrowth said it was a lot more… _blue_ than this. This looks quite literally like hell.” George admitted, staring at the bubbling lava that seemed to stretch for miles underneath them.

“Most intelligent creatures live in the Warped Forests,” Dream explained, bending down to examine a giant pile of bones that stuck up from the ground, “because the climate is cooler there, the glowing mushrooms provide a sort of cooling system.”

George snorted and rolled his eyes. “Magic is so weird… it’s hard to imagine something blue in a place so desolate and red.” His eyes roamed the world, so barren and empty, not a single soul in sight save a few brown slime creatures lazily flopping about.

“That’s why it’s so empty here, everyone lives in the Warped Forests. They used to be sparse, but over the years the forests have grown more and more. Hopefully we’ll be able to find some people I know…” Dream’s voice was slightly wavering, but he lifted up his mask just a little bit to shoot George a small smile.

“And how far away is the nearest Warped Forest?” George asked and shifted the weight of his backpack slightly. It was hot, but not like a dry desert that tried one’s throat in a matter of minutes. The air was suffocating, sweat sticking to the back of George’s shirt—how Dream was wearing the thin leather armor was a mystery to the prince.

Dream shrugged nonchalantly. “A few miles, maybe? Distance is strange here. Time will probably go faster if we find something to talk about, it’s good at being a distraction from the heat. I don’t really have a lot of stories since I went straight from here to the Eos Kingdom, but I can tell you a bit about my friends, if you’re interested.”

Nobody quite knew where Sapnap was from—not even the man himself. The term “raised by wolves” was oddly literal when it came to the knight, as he grew up with a large pack of wolves for a few years of his life, never learning to read or write as a kid. He did learn how to trust his instincts, with lightning-fast reflexes and insane stamina for running—Dream could run faster than Sapnap, but the man’s endurance always made it easy to catch up.

Eventually one of the wolves led him to the Eos Castle, where he met Bad in the courtyard. Bad, only a few years older than Sapnap, took him in and taught him how to read. Bad took a liking to Sapnap and asked the King if he could train to be a knight, and the King had Sapnap partake in a week’s worth of brutal tests, saying he didn’t want any random barbarian to be a knight.

He passed every test with ease after intense training from Bad, and met Dream in the training program for knights, the two becoming fast friends at being outsiders of the Eos Kingdom.

“And the other one?”

“Who, Punz?”

“Yeah, him. He doesn’t look like he’s from the Eos Kingdom.”

“Oh, you’ll _really_ like his story.”

Punz was born in the Winter Coast, in a tiny fishing village way up north, where it was always snowing and it was hard to come by any food besides fish and berries. When Punz was a young boy, the only other people in his village, about four elderly men, passed away, leaving Punz and his little brother all alone to survive by themselves. A few weeks later, a pirate ship passed through the little village to loot all of the belongings.

The captain of the ship took pity on Punz and his brother, letting them on the ship to live with them. Once he became a teenager, though, he didn’t really want to be a pirate anymore, he wanted to stay in one place. After reading stories about the Eos Kingdom and its royal knights, Punz decided he was going to train to be a knight, immediately befriending Dream and Sapnap the moment he came to the castle.

“What about his brother? What happened to him?”

“Punz doesn’t really like talking about him—said his brother left the pirate ship before he did, apparently he wanted to be an adventurer. I think Punz wanted him to be a knight with him or stay with the pirates, but from what we know, he hasn’t spoken to him since we met him.”

George nodded along in an attempt to stifle the burning jealousy in his stomach, bubbling in a thick cauldron of guilt. He shouldn’t feel jealous—these people either had dead families or no known families, raised in harsh conditions and beaten down by the harsh lashes of life, yet still George felt envious of their countless adventures they must have had.

“Oh, we’re here!” Dream snapped George out of his thoughts with a jovial shout, gesturing towards the scene in front of the two. The ground was soft and cool, a chilly breeze filtering through the thick glowing trees. Everything was some shade of blue or green, and it was one of the most beautiful sights George had ever seen.

The moment they stepped in the Warped Forest, the air grew cooler and breezier, the sweat that was previously on George’s back now making him shiver ever-so-slightly. “It’s so…”

“Contradictory?”

“Beautiful.” George said, letting his hand caress a turquoise vine that hung from a thick tree. “What sort of creatures live here?”

“In the Lava Regions, it’s mostly just piglins and hoglins—pig creatures, always super hostile unless you have gold on you—and these strange giant slime cubes called magma cubes. There’s also ghasts, these enormous gray and white floating monsters that scream and shoot fireballs—stop looking at me like that, they’re real!” George could practically _hear_ the goofy smile on Dream’s face as he talked about the creatures in the sweltering areas.

After a few minutes of walking, which was much more pleasant now due to the cool breeze and pretty trees, George saw a flash of orange and white that stuck out among the blue and green. “Hey, Dream?” he asked, stopping in his tracks to look at where the flash of fur was.

“What’s up?”

“Are there normally foxes in Warped Forests?” George asked.

Dream immediately unsheathed his sword and held it out expertly. “Foxes don’t exist in the Enchanted Undergrowth.” He muttered seriously. The flash of orange fur was back again, but this time it was standing directly in front of Dream and George as the most adorable fox in the entire world, with orange, white and black tipped ears and a big bushy tail.

Its dark brown eyes blinked up owlishly at the two men and tilted its head. “Dream, relax.” George laughed and squatted down to be at eye-level with the fox and reached out his hand. “Foxes aren’t hostile creatures unless you force them to be. What’re you doing out here on your own, little guy?”

His tone was adoring and high-pitched as he spoke to the fox, who touched its nose to George’s hand briefly as a sign of peace. Dream still had his sword out, but he relaxed just slightly out of his fighting stance.

“Stop right there!” a voice called out from the trees, startling both men enough to have Dream jump out in front of George in a protective stance. A man with maroon colored hair and red freckles ran out of the trees, clearly winded. At his feet was a Siamese cat with unnervingly blue eyes that seemed to stare into George’s soul, its tail swishing back and forth slowly.

The man clutched onto a large axe that he seemed quite familiar with, and for a moment George was worried he was going to die until Dream sheathed his sword and put his hands up. “Velvet, relax! It’s me!” he exclaimed, his hands still up in the air.

The man—Velvet—scowled and rolled his eyes. “What do you mean, ‘it’s me’?” he grumbled sarcastically, eyeing the fox behind George as if to make sure it was okay.

Dream seemed conflicted for a moment, turning his head from George to Velvet, before he sighed and, to George’s completely and utter shock, unclipped his mask from behind, letting it fall into his hands and revealing the mysterious knight once and for all.

“Dream?” Velvet asked, his jaw dropped and eyes wide—even the _cat_ looked surprised. George wasn’t paying attention to that though, he was too busy trying to drink up every physical aspect of Dream’s face before he would eventually put the mask back on.

He looked surprisingly normal, if George was being completely honest. Normal green eyes, a slightly crooked nose, a handful of freckles and a couple of tiny white scars. He just looked human—attractive, sure, but human. No glowing eyes or silver blood, just light brown hair and a lopsided grin.

As if Dream’s face wasn’t enough of a surprise, the Siamese cat meowed and then suddenly was no longer a cat. No tricks, no stretching or melting, he was just a cat one moment and a small man with cat ears and a tail the next, with a head of curly brown hair. Without even blinking, Velvet reached into his pocket and handed the cat-man a pair of glasses.

“When you said you were leaving, I thought that meant you were never coming back.” The cat-man said, a small smile adorning his face. It was clear he had no grudge against Dream, though, as he immediately squeezed Dream in a tight embrace that Velvet quickly joined as well.

Dream smiled—his smile made the sun look dim—and patted them both on the back after they separated from the hug. “Antfrost, Velvet, it’s so good to see both of you again. This is Prince George of the Eos Kingdom, I’m accompanying him on a journey to find Sol before the Shadow-Walkers do too much damage.” He said, his tone somber and solemn.

Velvet frowned and toyed with his hands as the fox bumped his leg with his nose, clearly upset that he wasn’t the center of attention anymore. “The Shadow-Walkers don’t even live in the normal world… how did they get access?”

“No clue,” Dream admitted, “but George is part of the Eos family, and he’s shown he has some sort of light magic that can directly combat the shadow vines and we _need_ to get rid of them as best we can.”

Velvet and Antfrost exchanged concerned glances and looked back at Dream nervously. “You’re _sure_ the prince has light magic? Because if not, he won’t be allowed to enter the cave.” Antfrost nervously pushed his glasses up and leaned into Velvet’s shoulder.

Dream nodded, his eyes going hard and determined. “I’m sure. This _has_ to work.” He affirmed, squeezing George’s shoulder in reassurance. George looked down at the ground and smiled at that—Dream had so much _emotion_ in his eyes, all the time. Maybe that was why he wore the mask, so people couldn’t read him as well.

“Could you at least stay the night with us before you go to Sol’s Cavern?” Velvet asked, rubbing his neck awkwardly and giving Dream puppy eyes. “Your tree home is still the same as it was before, but I really want to have dinner with you… we missed you, Dream.”

George immediately nodded, excited at the prospect of one last night of a hot meal, but Dream looked more hesitant. He looked the same was when he was first told they would be going to the Enchanted Undergrowth, except this time George could see his eyes—nervous, excited and _scared_.

Antfrost immediately noticed Dream’s hesitation and put a hand comfortingly on his arm. “I don’t think you need to worry about him anymore, Dream… after all, he’s the one that found you.” George opened his mouth to ask what in the world he was talking about when Dream’s pupils dilated and he sucked in a sharp breath.

Guilt and fear swirled around in Dream’s eyes as he looked down at the fox, swallowing a lump in his throat as the fox tilted its head, narrowing its eyes accusingly at Dream. “I thought…” Dream swallowed and took a step back from the fox, “I thought Fundy couldn’t change forms like you.”

Dream’s hands were trembling, George noticed, and while he wasn’t good with comforting, George decided to grab one of his hands and squeeze it reassuringly. Dream didn’t say anything, but his grip did steady and he squeezed back. “Well, this absolute moron was apparently either naked or mostly-naked when he shifted this morning to come with us, so we have to wait until we get back.” Velvet teased, and the fox yipped at the man, who simply laughed in response.

“Do you… know the fox?” George asked quizzically, and Dream nodded silently. “Did he hurt you?”

Dream let out a sharp bark of laughter that was void of all humor or mirth. “Fundy would never hurt me unless it was on accident. We were best friends for years—5up would join us whenever he wasn’t doing important magic things—and he said he would come with me out of here. I told him no, he still needed to stay here, we couldn’t leave 5up on his own. We got into a huge fight when we reached the portal, and I… I pushed him—I didn’t think we were that close to the ledge, though, and he fell right when I went through the portal.”

There was a stretch of silence as everyone started walking through the trees, and George casted a glance at Fundy, who was walking next to George. The fox blinked right back at George, and then looked at Dream, who refused to make eye contact. “That’s neither of your faults.” George finally said after a few minutes, and Dream laughed bitterly.

“Maybe if I just let him come with me instead of being selfish, he wouldn’t have fallen. I mean, I knew he didn’t die, or else I would have felt it, but… how—”

“How would you have felt it?” George inquired, and Velvet whooped in glee.

Dream smiled and let Velvet do the talking for this explanation. “I couldn’t explain it to you if I wanted to, Your Highness,” he joked good-naturedly, “but Fundy and Dream always had this weird sixth-sense for when the other was in trouble, and frankly I’m not surprised Dream knew Fundy wasn’t dead.”

“That still doesn’t explain how he survived, you know.” Dream replied smoothly, finally looking at Fundy for a brief moment before immediately looking away.

Antfrost took a bite out of some weird, dried-up blue mushroom and chuckled. “5up can literally grow entire forests in minutes, and you’re asking how Fundy survived? The man can grow entire forests in a matter of minutes, he knows when blood is spilled, he’s literally part of the land. We all ran to find Fundy, and 5up somehow managed to heal him from death. It made some of Fundy’s hair go gray, though, which was funny, and now the two of them are madly in love.” George raised an eyebrow at that—who was 5up, anyways?

Dream laughed and shook his head. “They’ve _always_ been in love, Ant, you were just too busy slobbering over Velvet that you didn’t notice.” He joked, and Ant made a flabbergasted gasp in response.

George was glad that Dream was meeting all of his friends again, even if he was a little worried about what would happen when Fundy eventually shifted back into his human form. Finally the crew stopped in their tracks, and the sight before George was one of the most beautiful things in the world.

A meadow of trees that were almost as tall as the Eos castle stood in a huge meadow, doors and windows on the hollowed trees and swinging bridges connecting the higher floors. A dark blue man with one eye in the center of his forehead waved to the crew of them jovially, and a surprisingly normal man was stood next to him, drinking something from a wooden mug.

“Is that… oh my god, Dream! You’re back!” The one-eyed man shouted, and the guy next to him cheered out excitedly.

Dream’s ears were tinged pink, but he looked excited to be there. “Hey Krinios, Spifey. Not for long, unfortunately, I’m taking Prince George of Eos to retrieve Sol.” His smile was incredibly charming, especially paired with his sparkling eyes and—

George shook his head. What was he thinking? “Your Highness!” the man with the dark hair and long eyelashes next to Krinios, Spifey, greeted him with a smirk. “Welcome to the Enchanted Undergrowth! I hope you find Sol and save the overworld… who knows where the Shadow-Walkers would go next if they took over…”

Velvet and Antfrost broke off to go speak to two other residents named Michael and Burren, while George stood still next to Dream. One of the tree doors swung open to reveal what was arguably the least human-looking person George had seen yet.

His body was normal, wearing a black jacket and large scarf, but his head wasn’t human nor attached to his body. His head simply floated above his body, and it looked like a strange cross between an onion and a radish with two kind eyes and a mouth. “Dream!” he called out, wrapping the knight in a warm embrace as Fundy slipped past them to go through the same door that 5up just came from.

“5up, it’s so good to see you again.” Dream told the man kindly, and they both pulled away from the hug with smiles on their faces. “I think you know why we’re here.”

5up nodded solemnly and shook George’s hand, his grip shockingly strong. “I was listening through the trees, yes. Forgive me, I know I promised no eavesdropping when we were younger, but I just couldn’t help myself when I felt your presence. Prince George, the magic in your blood is quite impressive. I believe you will be able to wield Sol with ease.” His voice was different than what George expected, but he seemed nice enough, if not a little strange.

“Well, I’d love to have dinner with you tonight so I can give you the map to Sol’s Cavern, and perhaps we can catch up a little bit. I’m sure there’s plenty of stories to tell.” Dream nodded at that, and was about to say something else when his eyes locked onto something—no, someone—behind 5up.

All doubt and guilt seemed to slam back into Dream like a horse, and he seemed to shrink in on himself a little bit as the figure crossed their arms.

“Hello, Dream.”


	7. IMPORTANT UPDATE!!!!!

hey guys!!! this is not a new chapter (although that will come soon). I'm really sorry to tell you guys this, but I came to the decision that I don't want there to be any dnf (dreamnotfound) in this fic. I know I originally created this fic as a dnf one, but the more I thought about it and the more I wrote, the more I realized that I just don't want any explicit romance between them in this fic (although there will still be lots of compliments and hugging), as I feel slightly uncomfortable with writing that. I am however making it slightly ambiguous, so if you want to imagine there's something going on between the two characters then by all means, I love leaving things up to interpretation! For now, though, I just want to leave this as a platonic (but still hella homiesexual) fanfiction about two people becoming close friends, prophecies, war, magic and kingdoms. I hope you all will continue to read this though, and thank you all SO much for 400 hits, you're all amazing and wonderful people. <3 I'll see you soon with a new chapter, my friends! I promise there's lots of amazing characters, friendships and POVs to come soon.

**Author's Note:**

> Most of the chapters will be longer than this one, so sorry if this one seems a bit short! I just wanted to do a tiny bit of world-building and introduce a few of our important characters. I hope you liked this work, and if you didn't, thank you so much for taking the time to read it! :) I hope you all have a wonderful day!


End file.
